


The End of All Things

by quartzguts



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assisted Suicide, M/M, Unhappy Ending, prophecy justified murder, very light romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:35:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21529897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quartzguts/pseuds/quartzguts
Summary: Ardyn is never freed from Angelgard.When Noctis turns twenty, he travels to the island prison to fulfill his destiny and kill the Accursed.
Relationships: Ardyn Izunia/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 11
Kudos: 107





	The End of All Things

Adagium is not what Noct expected.

He looks pitiful, really, strung up by chains that pierce and cut through his skin. When Noct approaches him, he groans and twitches, the movement drawing blood from his wounds. There are scars covering every part of his body. Noctis stands stock still, sword drawn, suddenly unsure of what he needs to do.

This is the Accursed, the monster that he must slay to save their star from its scourge. Everyone is counting on him to fulfill his duty - his dad, his friends, his people. Luna. When Adagium finally cracks his eyes open to look up at him, he steels himself and draws up his weapon.

The cave is deathly quiet, which Noct is thankful for. If it hadn't been, he might not have heard the broken, quiet murmur that passes through Adagium's lips:

"Somnus?"

Noct cuts through his chains instead of his neck.

+++

Adagium can barely walk as they exit the cave. Noct half drags, half carries him out. He's way taller than he has any business being, and apparently two thousand years trapped in darkness hasn't weakened him physically, because he's _heavy_ with all the muscle on him. Muscle that Noct can plainly see, as his clothes are tattered and barely hanging onto his hips.

He averts his eyes with a blush and offers the Accursed his jacket.

Adagium looks at it for a moment, like he's never seen clothing before, then pulls it around his shoulders. Noct is thankful. The jacket is obviously too small for him to wear, and he thinks watching someone much larger than him trying to fit into his clothes would be embarrassing.

"Thank you," is the second thing the Accursed says to him. He coughs dryly afterwards, and Noct summons a water bottle from the Armiger for him.

Adagium regards the bottle with confusion until Noct unscrews the cap for him. He takes several long gulps before rearing back in disgust.

"What is this cup? It makes the water taste awful."

Noct stifles a laugh. It doesn't feel appropriate, given the circumstances. "It's plastic."

"Plas - ? No, never mind. It matters not."

Noct waits for him to finish the bottle before he speaks again. "So, um. Who are you, again?"

"I believe I'd rather know who you _think_ I am," Adagium says.

Noct looks him up and down. He's sitting stiffly, clearly sore from two millennia of crucification, but the cuts and gouges from his chains have more or less healed. He's handsome, too, with kind looking eyes and hair that Noct thinks would be light red if it wasn't matted and covered in grime.

"You're Adagium," he says finally. "The Accursed. You're the source of the darkness that threatens Eos."

Adagium lets out a short, hysterical laugh. Noct watches in horror as he doubles over, his breaths coming fast and his hands shaking. It looks like he wants to cry but can't remember how to. Noct hesitates for only a moment before he leans forward and takes one of Adagium’s shaking hands.

Adagium pulls him close with unexpected strength. Noct lets the Accursed curl into him as he awkwardly rubs his back. It reminds him of his childhood after the Marilith, when Ignis would hold and sooth him during his fits of panic and fear. Being on the other side of the equation is strange, but not wholly unwelcome.

Finally, the silence grows too overwhelming and he has to say something to break it. "What's your name?"

"Ardyn," the Accursed chokes out between sobs. "Ardyn Lucis Caelum."

Noct can't imagine that means anything good. He pulls Ardyn closer and presses his face against his neck.

+++

They take a boat back to the mainland. Ardyn startles at the noise and keeps his hands over his ears until they reach the shore. Noct helps him out of the boat, and supports him as they walk to the road where the Regalia waits.

Noct went on this mission alone, so as much as he wishes Ignis, Prompto, and Gladio were there, he'll have to wait until they get back to Insomnia to speak with them in person.

He could always call and ask them to come meet him out here, but that doesn’t feel right. Not with Ardyn barely conscious and clinging to him for support. Something about this moment in time feels sacred, like it's meant only for them: only for the Accursed and the King of Light. Noct tries to catch hold of that feeling, but it falls through the cracks in his fingers.

At first Noct settles Ardyn in the backseat so he can lie down, but he gets antsy when Noct climbs into the driver's seat. Ardyn ends up buckled in next to him, riding shotgun as they make their way down the road.

"This carriage moves so quickly," Ardyn says. Noct chuckles; they're only going about 45. "How did you say it was powered again?"

"The engine burns gasoline for fuel," Noct says. "We have enough that we won't need to refuel for another day or so."

"Fascinating," Ardyn murmurs. He's looked sleepy for a while now. It seems like the constant hum of the engine is relaxing him. Noct sympathizes.

"You can sleep, if you want," he says.

Ardyn yawns. "I fear I have slept for far too long, but I shall take you up on that offer nonetheless." He unclasps his seatbelt. Noct is about to tell him to put it back on and he'll tilt the seat back, but then Ardyn is curling up with his head in Noct's lap.

Noct gulps hard. "Uh, you comfortable like that?"

"You're warm," Ardyn says. He presses his cheek into Noct's thigh.

Noct waits until he's sure he’s asleep before he takes his hand off the wheel and threads it through Ardyn's hair. It’s greasy and tangled. He's really got to get him a shower.

+++

They stand in the center of the motel room, Ardyn poking around at everything he can find. Noct guesses he must be throwing himself into exploring his new environment to avoid thinking about… whatever happened that caused him to be chained up in a cave for two thousand years. Or maybe he’s just excited at being somewhere new for a change. Noct sets down the extra supplies he’d bought earlier (including clothes, because if the jacket is any indication Ardyn won’t fit into any of his) and lets him explore.

After a while, it becomes too much and Noct can’t ignore the problem any longer. "Look, not to be rude or anything, but you kind of stink. You need a shower."

Ardyn looks at him oddly. "A shower? I'm sorry, I don't take your meaning."

Noct bites down a groan. "Let me show you."

He leads Ardyn into the bathroom and, after giving him a quick explanation of indoor plumbing, turns on the shower head.

"By the gods," Ardyn says, reaching out a hand to touch the water.

"You can control the temperature with this," Noct says. "And, uh…."

Ardyn shimmies out of his rags and steps under the spray. Noct freezes. He knows he should leave and give Ardyn some privacy, but he sort of doesn't want to. Beyond the fact that Ardyn is genuinely _pretty_ , he doesn’t feel like he should leave him alone just yet. Ardyn doesn't seem to mind anyway.

Noct points out the motel issue shampoo, conditioner, and soap, and explains what each is for. Ardyn is pleasantly surprised by the sweet smell the shampoo gives his hair. Noct leans against the bathroom counter as Ardyn finishes washing down.

"Would it be remiss of me to stay here a while?" Ardyn asks him. He's standing directly in the shower spray, smiling softly. "It feels positively divine."

"Uh, no. Take as long as you want."

They stand in silence for a bit. The water cascades down evenly, hitting the tile with little pings where it misses Ardyn's body. Noct firmly looks away until he feels Ardyn's gaze turn to him. He lets his eyes drift up.

He was right; Ardyn's hair is red, although the shower water is making it look darker than it probably is. His eyes are an unnatural yellow. Noct shivers as his pupils contract into slits.

"I don't believe you've told me your name yet," Ardyn says. Noct can't place his tone; it's too even, too practiced. Amacably menacing is a good way to describe it, like a cat idly talking to a mouse it has trapped under its claws.

Noct knows the smart move is to lie, but he wants to believe the man who wept tearlessly into his shoulder only hours before won't murder him in a bathroom while completely naked. "I'm Noctis Lucis Caelum."

"One of Somnus's descendents, then," Ardyn says, still deceptively calm.

"Yeah. I - I'm sorry. For whatever he did to you."

Ardyn keeps him pinned with that look for several moments more before he breaks it with a friendly smile. There are wrinkles around his eyes, Noct notices. Laugh lines. He wonders how happy Ardyn must've been, before he was locked away.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Ardyn says smoothly. "Now, I find that beyond all odds, I am quite hungry. Is there a cook pot nearby we can use?"

After Noct gets Ardyn dressed, he introduces him to restaurants, and Ardyn marvels at the invention of delicacies such as french fries and milkshakes.

+++

"Noctis," Regis says, very patiently, for the fourth time, "I still don't believe this is a good idea."

"Please, Dad, just trust my judgement on this," Noct pleads into the phone. He's trying to stay quiet, since Ardyn is taking another shower only a dozen or so feet away with the door open. He'd said something about feeling trapped in the small room with it shut. Noct doesn’t want to leave him alone, so he’d stayed in the motel room to call home, hoping the shower spray would drown out his voice. He won’t be able to keep his volume down if his dad keeps trying to convince him to kill Ardyn, though.

"This man is the Accursed," Regis continues.

"Yes, I know," Noct hisses. Regis sighs, and the phone buzzes and crackles as he puts it on speaker.

"Your Highness." _Ah, crap,_ Noct thinks. Ignis. He'd spent weeks helping Noct prepare to face the Accursed by combing through every shred of information about him, be it history books or religious texts. "Adagium is well known as a prolific liar. It is likely he is attempting to deceive you.”

"I'm not that easy to trick," Noct snaps. He's getting tired of this. "Look, whatever happened to him, it was _bad._ I can't just kill him in cold blood!"

"Noctis, who are you talking to?"

The unexpectedness of Ardyn’s voice elicits a yelp. He hadn't noticed the shower being turned off, or Ardyn coming back into the room. He’s also spectacularly naked, with only a short towel wrapped around his waist.

"It's a phone," Noct says, his heart beating a mile a minute in his chest, "you can use it to talk to people over long distances."

"Long distances?" Ardyn frowns. He sits on the bed next to Noct and squints at the LED screen. "I don't understand."

"It would be hard to explain," Noct says. "Too hard, probably. I'm talking to my Dad, he's in Insomnia, say hi, Dad!" He scrambles to turn the phone on speaker.

It stays silent for a bit. Then - "hello."

"Incredible," Ardyn says. "Hello, there! Can you hear me?"

Noct snorts as Ardyn practically shouts into the phone. Regis answers with a dry "loud and clear."

"Fascinating," Ardyn says. "Truly, the world has changed dramatically since I was last awake. You are the King of Lucis, I presume?"

"Yes," Regis says. His voice sounds like steel, unbendable and cold. "What intentions do you have involving my son?"

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand," Ardyn says. He's using that tone of his again: friendly enough to be threatening. However that works. "'Intentions'?"

"If you hurt him there is no corner of Eos where you can hide that I will not -"

"I have no _intention_ of harming Noctis at all," Ardyn says. Noct’s mouth drops open. He's never heard anyone interrupt his father before, _ever_ . "Regardless of how I feel about your _royal line,_ Noctis has shown me a great deal of tenderness since he freed me from my prison." Ardyn slides a hand into Noct's hair. His lips quirk into a smile. "I do not have any desire to see him come to harm."

"...tenderness?" Ignis says.

"Uh, he just means kindness," Noct says. "Anyway, we'll be back in about a week love you guys bye!"

Ardyn laughs at him. Noct punches his shoulder.

+++

At 3 in the morning Ardyn sets a knee on Noct's bed and asks "may I sleep here?"

Noct starts to nod before catching himself. "Why?"

There's a pause, and some rustling of fabric. Noct peeks over and sees Ardyn wringing his hands together nervously.

When he finally speaks, he’s careful to remove all emotion from his words. "The room is too cold and quiet. Every time I begin to fall asleep, I think of Angelgard."

Noct turns away and pats the bed behind him.

Ardyn slips in quietly. He presses against Noct's back and wraps his arms around him tightly, like he's trying to take some of Noct's warmth for himself. Ardyn is cold, terribly so, but when Noct tentatively takes his hand and runs his fingers across his wrist he finds a pulse.

"Such a little thing you are," Ardyn murmurs into Noct's hair. "I wonder, how did the gods expect you to kill me?"

"You don't think I could do it?" Noct asks.

Ardyn sighs. "Who knows? I know not my own power. I was only able to make use of this cursed body for a few moments before Somnus executed me."

"Executed," Noct murmurs. "What really happened to you? I want to know everything."

Ardyn stays silent for so long Noct nearly falls asleep. When he does start talking he tells a story so terrible in a voice so tired it makes Noct want to go back to Insomnia and scream at the Crystal until Bahamut himself comes down to answer him.

+++

The next day a Crownsguard unit busts down the door to their motel room. Before Noct can react, Ardyn jumps in front of him and summons a sword, massive and red as blood. He snarls at the men approaching them with guns raised.

"Stop!" Noct yells. He grabs Ardyn's wrist and pushes it down. To his surprise Ardyn lets him, and soon the sword is pointing harmlessly at the ground. "Godsdamnit, everyone calm down."

"Who are these men?" Ardyn hisses.

"My dad's soldiers," Noct says. "They're here to protect me, probably."

"Oh." Ardyn drops his sword. It shatters into a million tiny pieces of light. His expression is pleasantly disarming as he smiles at the nearest guard. "Well, then, there's no issue at all."

"Your Highness, to me," Cor says, keeping his gun aimed firmly at Ardyn. "And you. What was that supposed to mean?"

Ardyn huffs. "Only that I would react to any harm brought against Noctis with extreme prejudice."

Cor’s glare intensifies. He clearly doesn’t believe him, and while it annoys Noct, he can see his point. Ardyn’s demeanor doesn't really inspire confidence.

“Highness,” Cor says, harsher this time. “To me.”

“No.” Noct grabs Ardyn’s arm and swings around him. He’s faintly reminded of being eight years old, his nursemaid shielding him from the Marilith’s swords and fire. Ardyn’s body is solid against his back. He wonders if protecting someone with your life always feels this desperate. “Put down the guns.”

“What _are_ those weapons?” Ardyn murmurs as Cor unenthusiastically gives the order to stand down. “They look odd.”

“They fire projectiles,” Noct says, keeping in front of Ardyn even though the threat has passed. “If you get shot in the head or chest, you’re as good as dead. Anywhere else and it just hurts like hell, but bleeding out and permanent damage are still possibilities.

“So, humans have found a way to make war even deadlier,” Ardyn says, and he sounds genuinely sad, just for a moment. “How lovely.”

“We’re going back to Insomnia,” Cor says, “ _now_.”

Noct bites out a firm “no. I said we’d be back in a week, and I meant it. Don’t try to interfere with this, Cor.”

Cor’s eyes narrow. If Noct wasn’t trained to notice such things, he probably wouldn’t see his hand slowly reach into one of his pockets. In a few seconds he’ll smash a gas bomb, and both Noct and Ardyn will pass out and be brought back to Insomnia against their will.

Noct bites his lip. He really wishes he didn’t have to do this.

He warps right into Cor, tackling him to the ground. Ardyn follows, and soon they’re out of the motel and heading deep into the woods surrounding the rest stop. Ardyn grabs his shoulder and pulls him behind a tree.

“What are you doing?” Noct hisses. “We have to keep running -”

“Shh.” Ardyn presses a finger to Noct’s lips, and then his eyes start glowing and his face bleeds black, and when two Crownsguard run past they don’t even notice them.

“Illusions,” Ardyn murmurs. “My specialty, you could say.”

When the Crownsguard eventually leave, they make their way to a haven nearby and sleep under the stars.

+++

They make a little home out there. They walk further every day, coming to rest at havens or even in the trees when night falls. With Ardyn around, the daemons don’t bother them. Sometimes they get close and bow their heads to him, like they’re greeting their king. Ardyn pets and coos at them, sending them on their way after they’ve shown their reverence.

“Daemons are just humans and animals that are infected with the Scourge,” Arydn tells him one night, after an Arachne comes to visit with her three dozen babies in tow. “They are simply sick. I sought to heal them, but Somnus disagreed with my methods. He believed it was better to burn them all, so the plague would not spread.”

“He kind of had a point,” Noct murmurs. His sleepy eyes snap open when he realizes what he just said. “I mean, not like that. But, um, if it really was spreading that fast, healing people one person at a time wouldn’t be a real solution. But burning the sick wasn’t, either. What I’m trying to say is, it sounds like it was an unwinnable situation.”

Ardyn hums. “I suppose. I hadn’t thought about it like that, at the time, but you are correct. It was unwinnable.”

“Hindsight is 20/20,” Noct says, and laughs at Ardyn’s confused look.

Eventually they make it to an abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere. It’s pretty beaten up, its walls weighed down with ivy and grass growing in between the wood panel floor, but it’s shelter and Noct is kind of sick of sleeping outside. Ardyn insists on collecting herbs and vegetables from the surrounding area and making something fresh for dinner, instead of eating more canned rations Noct has stored away in his Armiger. They cook stew over a fire, an experience Noct has only ever seen on TV survival shows, and sit together as the flames crackle and glow.

“I cannot stay here much longer,” Ardyn says quietly.

Noct drops his spoon into the bowl. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You said it yourself. I have become the Scourge incarnate, the source of the darkness that plagues our world. Noct. You must kill me.”

“No,” Noct says. He throws down his bowl, pushes Ardyn’s away, too, and grabs his hands. He can’t bring himself to look him in the eye. “No, I won’t. I refuse. The gods can’t just - they can’t just _do_ something like that, they can’t just leave you to rot and then expect me to kill you for the sake of some stupid prophecy. I won’t do it, Ardyn.”

“Noctis,” Ardyn murmurs. He cups Noct’s face and forces him to look up. “Please. I am _asking_ you for this. It’s what I want. You’re the only one who can do this for me.”

“I…” Noct sniffs, holding back the tears in his eyes. “I’ll think about it.”

+++

He thinks about it for two weeks. They fix up the cabin, patching the roof and making a new door that’s capable of closing all the way. Daemons keep visiting them each and every night, sliding into the cabin and lying down in front of Ardyn, offering their worship. Noct sleeps less and less. He wakes up in the early morning, as the sun begins to bring in the dawn, and watches Ardyn sleep. He looks so tired all the time, so drained. When he sleeps he’s more peaceful, but occasionally he starts to whimper and struggle against the grass bed they’ve made for themselves. Noct pets his hair those nights, tries his best to soothe him, and eventually the nightmares go away. In the end, though, they always return.

Every day Ardyn asks him silently. Noct knows he’s waiting for his answer, knows his every waking moment is dedicated to waiting for it, but he can’t bring himself to say the words. Because, really, Ardyn is right. He has to do it. He has to do it for their star, has to do it for Luna, has to do it for his father and his friends and Lucis.

He has to do it for Ardyn.

One evening, as the sun begins to set, the sky disgustingly beautiful for what he’s about to do, he swallows his feelings and says, “okay. I’ll kill you.”

Ardyn looks happy. Genuinely happy for the first time since Noct met him. He kneels and closes his eyes as Noct draws his sword.

+++

Noct takes another week before he goes back to Insomnia.

He keeps making his own meals, using the herbs that grow nearby and sometimes the meat of a beast that wanders close to the cabin. The daemons had died with Ardyn, so the nights are quiet, now. No one comes to visit him. He’s alone when the sun sets and alone again when it rises. He doesn’t bother continuing to fix the cabin; he won’t be staying much longer.

He’d planned to bury Ardyn in a pretty looking spot a few yards away, under a grand, vine laden tree. He didn’t get the chance to. Ardyn’s body burst into shadow and blew away in the wind the moment Noct’s sword struck his heart. He’d tried to grab onto some of that dust, but it had escaped through his fingers and he’d been left with nothing to prove that Ardyn ever even existed.

When he does head back, he hikes all the way to the nearest road without stopping. He’d left his phone in the motel when they’d ran, so he can’t even call someone to pick him up. He manages to hitchhike all the way to Hammerhead, where a pretty blonde mechanic calls for someone to come get him.

He only greets his father after he scrubs the woods’ filth off of his skin and dresses in fresh clothes. He triumphantly announces that he performed his duty as King and asks to be excused back to his room to rest.

When he’s finally alone again, having dealt with both questions and reprimands from his father, Cor, and his friends, he curls up on his bed and shudders.

He feels his magic begin to blossom inside of him. Noct blinks at it, watching as it pours out of his chest, blue flower petals that shimmer in the darkness of his room. A man who looks far too much like Ardyn appears in front of him, blue and translucent, like the afterimages Noct leaves behind when he warps.

“The price has to be paid, King of Kings,” Somnus says.

“What price,” Noct mutters.

“To truly destroy the Accursed, the King must make the ultimate sacrifice.” He leans in, his voice dropping to a murmur. “You laid my brother to rest, and I thank you for that. I wish I did not have to do this, little one.”

Noct watches as the sword materializes in front of him, its tip pressed firmly against his chest. “It’s fine. Do it.”

It doesn’t hurt.

**Author's Note:**

> _whether near or far  
>  i am always yours  
> any change in time  
> we are young again_
> 
> _lay us down  
>  we're in love_


End file.
